First … DON’T PANIC. Getting started with Happy Planner (HP from now on) and planner journals can be overwhelming. Take a deep breath, have a piece of chocolate and plunge on.

I’ve never been able to keep a planner for more than, say a, month. But as the husband & I are traveling more, I needed to keep a calendar. I have my iPhone, but honestly that is so … calendar. My HP is more of a scrapbook than just a calendar. Or a picture journal with places for appointments. Either way, it’s fun and I hopefully will be able to keep it going. I’ll check back in a couple of months.

When I joined in the Jimmy Beans Wool (JBW) Semi-Precious Tosh Shawl Mystery Knit-a-Longs (MKAL) the pattern used what the designer is calling a Quilted Stitch. I’ve also seen it called a Diamond Stitch or an Open Diamond Stitch. I found it somewhat confusing at first.

I was asked how I learned the stitch. I thought this might help someone else.

The written abbreviations for the quilted stitches are t1r and t1l (twist one to the right, and twist one to the left). This is how you do a t1r and t1l and how to do a complete repeat of the pattern.